Not surprisingly, the trend we’ve seen isn’t isolated to our own website. The AP just ran a story about the falloff of Obama merchandise and its effect on vendors (and yep, we’re mentioned).
The trends we see would indicate that consumers refine their politics through merchandise once a candidate is elected. Whereas “Hope” or “Change” were enough to symbolize everything Obama pre-election, these days both pro and anti-camps tend to focus more on policy. Of course, supporting the President can be as simple as a straightforward “Obama” T-shirt, but we do see increasing numbers of more specific designs on both sides of the political fence – from healthcare to beer summit – that transcend the generalized persona and drill down to specific concerns of the American conscience.
This pattern is a replay of the Bush years, though as noted in the AP article the Bush years gave rise to considerably more ring-spun backlash – both in volume and proportion - than the current Administration has generated. What is similar, though, is that We the People’s initial foray into Bush merchandise was of the generalized pro-Bush/anti-Bush flavor, which then evolved to more specific grievances or support.
What this means for us: with T-shirts serving as an American cultural barometer, the merchandise is getting more individualized, more timely and more headline-driven. Stay tuned.
Impeached Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich – indicted on 19 corruption charges in April – is back in the limelight showcasing his multi-million dollar book deal. “The Governor” is out (both book and man, who has yet to serve prison time), billed as a memoir. Given that Blagojevich may yet be sent to prison might lead some readers to wonder whether or not writing this book so prematurely might make such a memoir woefully incomplete (and somewhat less colorful), but hey – that Rod has always been an overachiever.
Blagojevich himself made an appearance on “The Daily Show” last week, wherein he maintained his innocence and made it very clear that the only reason he seems guilty is because the prosecution has released taped sound bytes out of context. Blagojevich is claiming that statements like “I’ve got this thing and it’s f***ing golden” (that f@#$ing golden thing being Barack Obama’s senate seat) were actually made out of concern for the good people of Illinois, and that if you listen to the tapes in their entirety it’s clear that he’s simply trying to make political appointments of people who will, in turn, help out hospitals and do various other good works for the Illinois populace.
Blagojevich claims that the prosecution has a gag order on him that prevents him from disclosing what follows in the tapes, that the prosecution is unnecessarily ducking his requests to release the tapes, and that he’s therefore been unjustly railroaded by an overzealous Patrick Fitzgerald and crew. Calling himself “the anti-Nixon,” Blagojevich says that he wants all the tapes to be released to the public in order that everyone can make up their own minds about his motives and actions.
Here’s the interview (the full, unedited version is also available on The Daily Show’s site):
Whether the entirety of the tapes will be released to the American people has yet to be determined, but we’ll give former Governor Blagojevich one thing: he always keeps things interesting. No wonder he inspired so many T-shirts.
Breast Cancer Awareness Month is October, and with it coming up we’re seeing a lot of great new breast cancer designs come through on the subject. Everything from funny to serious to hip and edgy would indicate that breast cancer is, most definitely, something that affects women (and men!) from all walks of life.
We’re accustomed to the edgy when it comes to breast cancer. In fact, cancer in general spawns a lot of edgy content; the trend with cancer T-shirts has a lot less to do about being a “victim” and a lot more to do with kicking cancer’s a$$. That being the case, it’s pretty hard to surprise us with breast cancer awareness art – but it would seem that some television viewers (and CNN anchors) aren’t so initiated:
We have our own video on the subject, and while there’s a lot less… er, focus… on the actual subject at hand (the boobs, not the cancer), we find this story of one woman’s cure campaign to be inspired, inspiring and just downright nice to hear.
Michael Vick got the go-ahead from the Philadelphia Eagles to play his first game since he was released from prison on federal dogfighting charges. With starting QB Donovan McNabb out with a cracked rib, Vick may see some field time this Sunday against the Chiefs. He won’t be the starting QB, but he may be out there.
Since Vick is back in sports, perhaps its only fitting that some of the surviving dogs from his property are doing the sports thing as well.
One of the organizations that evaluated and placed some of Michael Vick’s dogs has had a CafePress shop for years, and their ace trainer (and owner of many Bad Rap T-shirts) Linda adopted one of the Vick dogs. Audie is seen here at left raising money for the Western States Police Canine Association. Humans do bike rides and walks for these kinds of causes; dogs, apparently, get wet. (No canines were harmed during the filming of this fundraiser, but they were perhaps a bit disgruntled at the gratuitous baths.)
When Audie’s not doing his part to make sure his policedog friends have teflon vests (they are officers, after all), he’s practicing to be an agility star. He’s not making millions of dollars a year, but hey – he’s in it for the sport, not the glory. Ah, the things dogs can teach us.
With all of the debate and questions and confusion surrounding health care reform, the Obama administration has leveraged one of its most effective campaign tools to address the American people: the Internet.
President Obama has released a 4-minute video that covers some of the more questioned points of the reform plan. The video is on the WhiteHouse.gov website as well as YouTube and contains highlights from the speech Obama gave to Congress. (One highlight not included: Joe Wilson’s now-infamous outburst, father of 30,000 products.)
On our end, the T-shirts tell the story of a heated debate over the health care issue. In the past few weeks, though, we’ve seen more products come through that support reform.
Of course, while the T-shirts do give a good overview of the issue, the video does provide a more in-depth look at the bill itself. And so, without further ado:
Fans of the “Twilight” series are marking their calendars for the second film installment, set to hit theaters on November 20th. And while “New Moon” may not be out yet, but New Moon T-shirts are already going strong as Twi-hards ’round the world prepare themselves for the big day.
Fans know what fans want, and the New Moon merchandise so far is appropriately creative and fun. While Team Edward T-shirts outnumber the Team Jacob T-shirts at the moment, it’ll be interesting to see whether or not Jacob makes some strides once the movie’s out. “New Moon” focuses a lot more on Jacob than on Edward (who disappears for a spell – paper cuts can be so annoying), and Taylor Lautner’s sizzling Jacob is sure to bring some vampire fans over to the fuzzy side.
To celebrate the imminent launch of vampire v. werewolf, we’re having a New Moon T-shirt Design Contest. The contest runs from today through October 13th, and we’re allowing international submissions from Canada, the U.K. and Australia. We’re giving away 5 $250 AMEX cards and a $100 CafePress Gift Certificate, so if you’ve been procrastinating that perfect Team Jacob design now’s the time to shine. (Shine, not sparkle. Sparkling is so 2008.)
And now, just for fun, a sampling of some of the fan-created New Moon designs already locked and loaded:
What do peace, love, math, Pilates and coffee have in common?
Apparently all are on the Reese Witherspoon Like List, as the actress was seen leaving Pilates class with the custom SIGG bottle (seen here at left) in her bag, a coffee cup in hand. It’s always good to rehydrate after a workout, after all.
Her choice of bottle raises some interesting questions, and so we shall present them here in a quiz so that you, the readers, might lead us to the best answer:
The VH1 Divas Show went off with a bang last night for the first time in 5 years, with host and dancemaster Paula Abdul doing the very unexpected: an awkward dance in sneakers and a suit. Her send-up of Ellen DeGeneres – a nod to Ellen taking her place on the “Idol” stage – was a fun moment in a star-studded show filled with great pipes entertaining the masses for a great cause. The mix of divas old and new (like the duet between Sheryl Crow and Miley Cyrus) gave the audience a sense that a torch was being passed to a new generation of powerhouse female performers. Rock on, divas.
The night’s highlight for us was how much Paula loved the VH1 Divas T-shirt – seen here, at left, held by the ever-divalicious Paula herself. The proceeds from this T-shirt go to Save the Music, so you have a great excuse to get another hip T-shirt for the collection. Hey, it’s for the children. Charity is always a good reason to add a T-shirt to your wardrobe, after all.
The cast of the new “Fame” movie was there, providing a symbolic reminder that Save the Music’s mission is to restore music education programs. One cool thing about the new “Fame” film is that fans are encouraged to make official Fame merchandise, thus unleashing the power of creativity in those of us performing arts fans out there more likely to end up in outtakes of “So You Think You Can Dance” auditions than on the Broadway stage.
So, to sum up: great event, great divas, great voices, great T-shirts, great cause. Great job, everyone.
In the latest installment of off-color political statements, Barack Obama made his opinion of Kanye West’s VMA grandstanding public by calling him a “jackass.” Which is to say that Obama made an off-the-record remark which was then immediately shared with the world by ABC employees, thus teaching the President the Jesse Jackson/Rick Perry lesson that nothing is off the record when your mic is on. Or when a reporter with an active Twitter account is sitting there with a Blackberry and some twitchy fingers.
This time the public apology came from ABC, source of the leaked audio clip and employer of reporter Terry Moran, who Tweeted the comment despite the President noting clearly that it was off the record. (The tweeted comment has since been removed from Moran’s timeline, but his million followers means that the comment wasn’t exactly a lone tree falling in a deserted forest.)
The incident has provoked a lot of debate about journalism ethics, what off the record means, and Twitter’s impact on journalism. Funnily enough, the incident has not provoked debate about whether or not the President’s assertion was true or appropriate, making this one of of the few Obama utterances of late that seems to be embraced by all Americans.
And so we acknowledge Kanye West today for doing what lately has proven difficult: providing America with bipartisan fodder that has allowed folks of disparate political viewpoints to reach across the aisle, slap a high five of agreement and chat it up merrily at the water cooler. To that end, Kanye receives his second Fantasy T-Wearer Award this week with the “Proud Jackass” T-shirt, above. Wear it with pride, sir. If only the healthcare debate were this easy.
The classic 1980 hit “Fame” is all polished up for the 21st century with a new script and cast (though Debbie Allen is back as the Principal), and although the movie isn’t out yet the fan-created merchandise fun has already begun.
The new movie launches September 25th, so you still have some time to make your own T-shirts or outfit yourself in someone else’s. Dream it. Make it. Wear it.
Now let’s see if you can get through this post without getting Irene Cara’s timeless “Fame” theme song out of your head… because I can’t. Now I too want to live forever, and I wanna learn how to fly (high).
We’ve been talking about the trend of anti-Obama T-shirts and pro-Obama T-shirts for awhile now, noting that the infusion of anti-Obama merchandise is to be expected given the artistic cycle of a Presidential election.
The trends we see would indicate that consumers refine their politics through merchandise once a candidate is elected. Whereas “Hope” or “Change” were enough to symbolize everything Obama pre-election, these days both pro and anti-camps tend to focus more on policy. Of course, supporting the President can be as simple as a straightforward “Obama” T-shirt, but we do see increasing numbers of more specific designs on both sides of the political fence – from healthcare to beer summit – that transcend the generalized persona and drill down to specific concerns of the American conscience.
